The Justice Department has cracked down on Best Packing Services Employment Agency Inc., a Philadelphia-based company, for discriminating against two refugees by demanding specific documentation, delaying their start dates and costing them weeks’ worth of wages.
The department’s investigation revealed that Best Packing Services required the refugees to produce unexpired Department of Homeland Security-issued employment authorization documents, despite initially presenting sufficient documentation for employment eligibility verification purposes.
The refugees had provided unexpired state identification cards and unrestricted Social Security cards at the time of hire, but the company refused to allow them to begin employment until they produced the requested documents.
The anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits treating employees differently in the employment eligibility verification and reverification processes based on citizenship status or national origin.
As part of the settlement, Best Packing Services will undertake immediate corrective action to address and rectify its employment eligibility verification policies and practices.
Under the settlement agreement, the company will pay $4,379 in back pay to the two victims and conform all of its actions to ensure compliance with the INA’s anti-discrimination provision.
“The Civil Rights Division is pleased that Best Packing has prioritized compliance with the Immigration and Nationality Act,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, which protects work-authorized individuals from employment discrimination on the basis of citizenship status or national origin discrimination.
For more information about protections against employment discrimination under the immigration laws, call the OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2525, TDD for hearing impaired), call the OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-362-2735, TDD for hearing impaired), sign up for a no-cost webinar at www.justice.gov/crt/osc/webinars.php, email osccrt@usdoj.gov or visit the website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.
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